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Principles of Uncertainty
By RaistlinofMetallica
Years passed and life moved on for Ginevra. She had seen her son off to Hogwarts and looked on his sorting with great pride; he was a Gryffindor and, soon, made many friends, just as Harry had predicted all those years ago. It was during those first couple of years without her son that Ginevra renewed contact with several of her old friends, including Colin Creevey. Perhaps she merely sensed that Harry's time was approaching fast or perhaps she was lonely, but she found herself becoming closer to Colin over the long school months that her son was away.
They found solace in each other's company, both having suffered terrible heartbreak in the years since their own Hogwarts days. Colin had lost his wife only a few years previously, leaving him to care for his two boys on his own, while Ginevra was merely doomed to watch from a distance as her beloved green-eyed prince drifted further and further out of reach. She had almost forgotten what it was like to be on her own and it felt good to have someone her own age to talk to again, someone that she knew was not going to disappear. Colin began to brighten as well, the wounds in his heart left by his wife's death starting to heal and the weight of living solely for his sons lessening on his shoulders little by little every day.
On Christmas holiday in Tomas's second year, she asked Harry what he would think if she'd decided to move on.
He smiled at her and told her, "I'd have expected it by now. You've got to live your life, Gin. Besides, I want you to be happy... which you will be if you do move on. In three years time, you will have plenty to be happy about."
Like countless times before, Harry had foreseen the future in his dreams and he was correct: she had plenty to be happy about. She and Colin had slowly fallen in love and they married in the summer before Tomas's fourth year. Tomas was admittedly not too keen on the idea of suddenly having little brothers four and five years younger than him respectively and Colin's sons, Owen and Aleck, shared a similar opinion on gaining a new elder brother. But much of Tomas's concern lay in the fear that his mother no longer loved his father or had somehow forgotten him – a fact he only disclosed to his father. Here Harry served to assure Tomas that his fears were for naught and that Tomas now had new responsibilities on his shoulders that deserved his attention.
That first Christmas as a family was a little difficult, as the then nine and ten year old Aleck and Owen were still wary about Ginevra. They worried that she was trying to make their father forget about their mother – a fear that was compounded with that Halloween's announcement of an impending arrival. Tomas, however, would have none of it from his new younger brothers and swore that he'd be short-sheeting their beds and feeding them Uncle Fred and George's creations for the next two years if they refused to stop being paranoid. It was not an idle threat either, as Owen would be off to Hogwarts come next fall and Aleck would follow a year later. The younger boys were a bit intimidated by Tomas, as he was much taller than them and knew many more spells than they did, and, soon enough, they had stopped deliberately misbehaving altogether.
May slowly came around, bringing with it the birth of Ginevra's second son, Marcus. He had the Weasley red hair and temperament, but his eyes were a mousy brown like Colin's and his face was shaped like his father's. Owen and Aleck were rather fascinated by the baby, but rapidly began to realize that they were old enough to be expected to help in taking care of him and quickly found ways to make sure that they wouldn't be around all day during summer holiday. Tomas had to wait a month to see his half-brother, though, and, when he finally returned, wasn't in the least surprised to discover that he'd be helping out with the baby. In fact, he brought his two best friends over to meet Marcus and they were rather amused by the sight of their friend getting drooled on repeatedly by his sleepy baby brother.
Almost too quickly, the Hogwarts letters arrived and Tomas was quite surprised to receive a prefect's badge. He sheepishly commented that he "was sure he hadn't been that well behaved," and refused to explain what he'd meant. But September the first snuck up with surprising speed, and the matter was forgotten. Owen was off to be sorted and Tomas was heading off into one of the most hectic years of his Hogwarts career. Harry made certain that Ginevra was always aware of what dangerous adventures her son was getting into, as it seemed that he and Tomas shared the unfortunate habit of attracting trouble without really trying to; Harry's old enemies were becoming more impatient and a student from Tomas's class had disappeared over the summer months. Harry had never sufficiently explained to her what exactly had happened, though, and Tomas would avoid answering her questions on the matter.
Owen, somehow, remained blissfully out of harm's way for the entirety of his first year in Gryffindor and his only complaint was that his stepbrother had occasionally slipped Weasley Wizard Wheezes into his desserts. Tomas's best friend, Jon, was actually the culprit in this case and promptly embarrassed him by explaining that Tomas had been far too busy being moon-eyed over a girl to even think of properly welcoming the first years with harmless pranks. Owen and Aleck, for their part, spent the rest of the summer holiday teasing their stepbrother about his mystery crush while Tomas spent the time trying to avoid them. Ginevra had her hands full with Marcus as it was and, with all the teasing Tomas was getting from his stepbrothers, she decided that it would be best not to bother him about it.
A relative calm settled over the house in September as Aleck joined his elder brothers in Gryffindor and, once again, Ginevra's world became very small. She worried, though, about Tomas; there had been a few isolated terrorist incidents in recent months that positively smacked of the Dark Lord's followers and she feared that Tomas would go running off to try and stop them on his own. Fortunately, it seemed that the year was relatively free of incident – save for the now common appearances of the mysterious magical knight Hellblazer in Hogsmeade and Marcus's first rather humorous display of magic. Interestingly enough, Tomas's friend Jon had always clammed up whenever the masked magic knight was brought up and turned a rather interesting shade of red; Ginevra suspected that he had something to do with the strange young knight that had appeared seemingly out of thin air two years previously, but she couldn't quite put her finger on what.
That summer before Tomas's last year was the year that she realized her son was no longer a child. He had grown into a handsome young man and carried himself with the same sort of natural pride and mysterious grace that Harry had. Tomas was also clearly in love with Hermione's daughter and his long-time friend, Inova. Ginevra was surprised by this, having not expected her son to fall in love with a girl that had been his friend since his first year, but Tomas's friend Jon explained that he'd suspected Tom and Inova were always meant for each other. And it was a good match: Inova complimented his personality well, possessing an iron will and the good sense of where to draw the line, while Tomas was able to draw her out of her scholarly shell.
But while there was great happiness that year, it also held great danger and terrible loss. Something she had long dreaded had come to pass: Tomas was forced to confront his former self. Ginevra had always wondered what would happen when he was faced with the truth of his existence and had feared that it would drive him mad. But Tomas didn't seem phased in the least afterwards and merely smiled when she asked him why he wasn't worried. "Because I know the truth, mum," he had said. "Nothing they said could have made me forget that."
Soon after the conflict, Tomas's friend Jon was found in his family manor encased in a pillar of solid crystal. It mystified the wizarding world, drawing the best minds to try and determine what had happened. Tomas privately confided to Ginevra that his friend had chosen to sleep like that until his mother finally recovered from the Draught of the Living Death. Still, Tomas was saddened by his friend's decision; he knew that the spell would never be broken in his lifetime.
Harry, too, had been unusually quiet for several weeks and, finally, someone decided to check on him. They found his flat empty, save for a few carefully wrapped and labelled packages and plastic-covered furniture. His car was found a few weeks later at the bottom of a gorge, abandoned and partially totalled, but there was no evidence that he'd been inside when it crashed. It was as though he'd simply disappeared without so much as a single trace.
The packages Harry had left were addressed to different people and filled with things of his that he thought they would like or need. He'd sent some of his rare books to Hermione and much of his Quidditch memorabilia went to Ron. Tomas received the keys to the Potter vault, as well as the documentation naming him the sole legal heir to the estate, and the keys to a house in Wales; Tomas had smiled at Harry's note on the house keys and shook his head to hide a chuckle. It seemed that Harry knew Tomas would need them in the future. The last package, addressed to Ginevra, contained his will and instructions that he be declared legally dead as by the time she was reading it, he would no longer be a resident of the mortal plane.
The Ministry of Magic viewed Harry's will with some measure of caution at first and launched a thorough investigation. After months of picking it apart line by line, they concluded that Harry had foreseen his own end and, instead of running from it, he had quietly set his affairs in order before heading off to meet his final fate. The Ministry was assured that his comment about no longer residing in the mortal plane was proof positive that he was dead and ceased to look for a body on the recommendation of Professor Snape, who had become headmaster of Hogwarts several years earlier. He suggested that Harry had used the car as a decoy to delay investigation and instead met his end in the Veil, deep in the Department of Mysteries; Harry had gotten in there secretly before as a teenager and he knew very well that those who entered the Veil left no corpse. And so, the wizarding world mourned one of their greatest heroes.
Two years passed and Tomas was well into his Auror training. He had married Inova early that year, on an unusually bright and warm winter day. Ginevra couldn't remember being more proud of him than on that strange and wonderful day. Hermione had burst into tears several times during the day – she felt horribly that Harry wasn't there to see his son get married to her daughter. But Tomas assured her that his father was watching from the heavens and joked that his father was responsible for the good weather, having promised him that even if he decided to get married in the dead of winter, the day he said his vows would be warm and sunny as if it were summer. The reception ended in laughter as a very bored Marcus accidentally levitated the cake and turned his uncle Charlie a bright purple colour with a borrowed wand.
That September, Ginevra welcomed her first grandchild, Liam. Inova initially complained that her son looked nothing like her, until Tomas pointed out that most of the men in his family always looked very similar and one had to look very closely to see the traits they got from their mothers. Inova had given Tomas a very odd look and then announced that she could see what he meant – he had Ginevra's nose. Hermione had agreed with her daughter, laughing at the silliness of the argument, but Ginevra felt uneasy; she knew it couldn't be possible, not with who Tomas really was. But their attention soon turned back to the black-haired baby with his bright green eyes and she put the troubling thoughts out of her mind. Meanwhile, the then five-year old Marcus wasn't certain what to make of his nephew and simply sulked until Tomas plied him with an offer of Quidditch lessons and sweets.
A year and a half later, Tomas had become a fully-fledged Auror and Inova gave birth to their second child. Sonya took after her maternal lineage with her bushy hair and big brown eyes, though her hair was the same raven black as that of her parents. Tomas had jokingly told his wife, "See, dear, she looks nothing like me!" She promptly hit him on the head and reminded him that it would take a while before some features would become visible, as had happened with Liam – who most definitely had his mother's smile. Liam, meanwhile, had been speaking for some time and kept calling his new sister 'sawnie,' partially because he couldn't quite pronounce it quite yet and partially because he thought the expressions adults made when he said it were hilarious. Marcus, now near seven, tried to avoid being exposed to his eldest brother's children as best he could; he didn't want to play with babies, as he explained to Ginevra time and time again.
Another year passed, and Ginevra was now a grandmother of three. Maximillian was born on the anniversary of his parents' wedding day, much to the surprise of everyone, and Tomas nicknamed him 'the most precious anniversary present, ever.' Where his siblings had black hair, Max – as they had all come to call him – had inherited the same honeyed brown hair of his grandmother Hermione. Yet, Max shared the same green eyes as his brother and father, and his hair was consistently sticking up in places in true Potter-like form. Sonya, near to her first birthday, was happily speaking at this point, while Liam had expressed various amusing sentiments on the newest of his younger siblings; mostly, he did not approve of Max and wanted him 'put back.' Ginevra, having gained much experience helping out with her brothers' children in the past, reassured her mortified son and daughter-in-law that Liam's behaviour was perfectly normal.
The next four years had Ginevra alternating between caring for her parents with their failing health and her family. Colin, still working as a professional wizarding photojournalist, had taken to nagging his sons, now eighteen and nineteen, about their futures. Aleck had just started Auror training, while Owen was already into his second year of training. Colin was convinced, though, that his eldest boys were hiding their respective significant others from him and pestered them about it at every given opportunity. Marcus enjoyed watching his older brothers squirm under interrogation, mostly because he was still quite put out about them constantly treating him like a baby, and would help his father corner them at every given opportunity.
Nearly a year before Marcus was to start at Hogwarts, Ginevra's mother passed away and, only a month later, her father passed on as well. It was a difficult time for her: there were many things she had to attend to, least of all her family, and, with her parents deaths as close as they were, she was numb with shock for a long time. Colin knew well how much grieving hurt and did his best to help; he would take Marcus out and de-gnome the garden or run errands for her so that she and her brothers could put her parents' things in order. After the funeral of her father, Ginevra had found herself wandering to the inner ring of the memorial commissioned for the fallen members of the Order of the Phoenix.
It was a tall slender white obelisk on a base of white stone, with a beautiful phoenix carved on the base. White headstones were arranged in concentric half-moons behind the obelisk and from either side of it as well. Her parents were buried as they wished – side by side on the outermost ring, close to the family plot. Dumbledore's grave was opposite theirs. Ginevra hovered before Harry's plain headstone, knowing full well that it was just a marker – an empty box lay below – and let herself get lost in thoughts of him and her parents, now gone. She had then looked to Draco's headstone – marked as an honorary member of the Order, the same as Harry's – and asked him to make sure Harry was taking care of her parents. She knew he'd never have wasted the opportunity to hound his old rival and friend, even when dead.
The pain of her parents' loss had diminished somewhat by the next year and Ginevra was slowly moving on. Marcus had started at Hogwarts that fall, immediately getting sorted into Gryffindor like his brothers before him. Tomas, who had been making quite a name for himself with the Aurors, happily congratulated his half-brother and cautioned him about discreetly checking his food for pranks. It had become a tradition in the past to pull pranks on the first years and, later, Marcus commented that the tradition was 'still very much alive.'
While Marcus was adjusting to Hogwarts, Ginevra was adjusting to life without the presence of her children. The house suddenly seemed horribly empty and, while her stepsons came and went as they pleased, their presences barely seemed to fill the void. Colin felt it, too, and would wait impatiently for the holidays, eager to see the house full again. However, it was actually Ginevra's daughter-in-law that made the days of the school year pass by quicker; Inova had her hands full with her three children and desperately needed either advice or even just a few hours away from them to clear her head. Ginevra and Colin were closest, more often than not, and were more than happy to spend time with the small children. They made the house seem less empty and brought countless smiles to their grandparents.
It was during these six years that Ginevra truly realized the extent of what Harry had sacrificed himself for. He had willingly thrown his happiness to the wind, so that she might continue to live and love. She saw him in Tomas, laughing happily as he spun his youngest son around, and she saw him in Liam, chasing after his new puppy. Harry was still alive in her memory and in that of his friends and family, watching over them from heaven. He had fulfilled his fevered promise to her, made when she was still just a lovesick girl, and protected her, surrounding her with those that loved her, giving her a purpose in the world. If he had stayed with her, she knew now that Marcus, with all his freckles and stubborn moods, would never have been born, something she couldn't fathom even for a moment. If Harry had stayed, she'd have died when he did and would never have met her grandchildren; she would have never seen Liam off to Hogwarts, as she had seen his father off before him. She wouldn't have Colin, who understood her thoroughly, to keep her grounded in reality. All this Harry had given to her without hesitation and she could never repay him. She could only remember him and pray that he found peace in heaven, with all those that had passed on before.
"Mum, are you home?" Tomas's voice called from the other room, startling her from her thoughts – which she had been dwelling on more and more of late.
"I'm in the kitchen," Ginevra replied, putting down the photo album she'd been looking through and heading to the oven to check on her bread.
Tomas walked into the kitchen, brushing some soot off his robes. "You know, mum, the fireplace is looking a bit dirty. You and Colin should get it cleaned."
He always referred to her husband as Colin, never as anything else. To Tomas, Harry was always his father and it would never change.
Ginevra sighed, closing the oven door again. "Aleck is stopping by to clean it this weekend and, if you think it's really that dirty, you should help him."
"Mum," he groaned, sounding all the much more like a teenager than a man of thirty-one.
She rolled her eyes at him and held out her arms expectantly. "Come here, let's have a hug and try that again."
Tomas smiled and gently hugged her around the shoulders; he was much taller than her, having quite literally shot up like a weed in his teenage years. His wife, though a bit taller than her, still had to stand on tiptoe to kiss him. "Hey, mum," he said and drew back.
"I've missed you, Tomas," Ginevra said honestly, and turned towards the cupboard to start on a batch of hot cocoa; somehow, she suspected it would be needed. "The Aurors have been keeping you busy these days. We hardly see you anymore."
He sighed heavily, running his hand through his hair. "I know, mum. That's kind of why I'm here."
"I'm afraid I don't follow," she said, frowning slightly as she put the pan on the stove and tapped her wand to start the heat on. "What do you mean?"
Tomas sat down and, for the first time, she saw that he looked exhausted, emotionally and physically. "It's about Marcus," he said, quietly.
Instantly, the bottom dropped out of her world and a dread unlike any other filled her soul to bursting. "What happened? Is he all right?" she asked, clutching to the back of the chair as though it were a lifeline.
"He's okay, mum," Tomas said, but he didn't sound too convinced of it. "He's in the Hospital Wing, sleeping now."
Ginevra slowly sat down in the chair – almost as an afterthought, she tapped her wand against the stove to stop the heat. "What happened, Tomas? And don't lie to me."
There was a moment's pause as her son gathered his thoughts.
"It's not good," he said, finally. "There were major fuck-ups all over the place. The International Confederation of Wizards is going to have to get involved and Merlin only knows what a disaster that's going to be."
She knew from his posture that he was having trouble figuring out how to tell her what he needed to; Harry did the same thing. "Just tell me what you know," she said softly.
Tomas nodded and slowly ran his hand through his hair again. "You remember hearing about that spellfilch in the Daily Prophet, right?" he asked, pausing to look at her. Seeing her nod of acknowledgement, he continued, "We managed to track him down, trying to flee the country through the London Heathrow Airport. We were supposed to be in and out before he got anywhere near the gate. A team of Obliviators was on standby, just in case we had to resort to spells to subdue him. My team and I were stationed at the gate just in case he slipped by the undercover pursuit team."
His head dropped, then, in an attempt to his frustrated grimace. "And that's when it turned into a disaster."
Ginevra silently steeled herself for whatever was to come. Clearly, Tomas was upset and quite angry. He was rubbing his temples, trying to chase away the tension headache she knew he must have.
"The spellfilch bolted when he saw them," Tomas sighed, his eyes raising as he recalled the events. "He tried to lose them by swerving into a group of muggle tourists coming back from China. The pursuit team cast some spells, trying to stun and incapacitate him, but he literally pulled this muggle in front of him and kept running towards the gate. My team was able to catch him, but..."
She narrowed her eyes, not comprehending how a thief, muggle tourists and simple spells could result in her youngest child landing in the Hospital Wing and her eldest so visibly ruffled.
"That muggle..." he began, shaking his head, "... he transformed into a monster when the spells hit him and turned on the pursuit team. It was zoanthropy, a magical affliction so rare that it was thought long gone from the world, and they... no one had a clue what hit them, it happened so fast. I told my team to stay put and ran to find out what was going on."
Here, his voice faltered a little and he closed his eyes to steady himself. "He slaughtered them... they had been casting more spells to try and calm him, but only succeeded in fuelling the transformation even further. Zoanthropes lash out against all things magical in nature... especially wizards. The stronger they are, the more the rage the zoanthrope feels towards them."
Ginevra listened to her son, all the while feeling dread tie her stomach into knots.
"Well, he went fucking berserk when I got there," Tomas said, quite plainly. He fingered the amulet Harry had given him all those years ago; he would do that sometimes when he was troubled. It seemed to comfort him, to clear his head and he sighed, "I guess I inherited more power from dad than I realized."
At that, Ginevra winced slightly.
"Dad taught me that zoanthropes will transform to best counter whatever magic is cast on them," Tomas continued, completely oblivious to her reaction. "And, Merlin, this had to be the single worst idea I've ever had. I cast a spell on him that was intended to remove wings."
She understood instantly. "He grew wings." A part of her also nagged that Harry must have known this was going to happen, that Tomas was going to need that knowledge, and she wondered how far he had seen into the future.
"I was trying to lure him away, using myself as bait," he explained and clasped the amulet tightly. "I had to get him out of the city, away from people, mum. He would have destroyed everything if we tried to beat him there. I led him out to sea, skirting the coastline – I was trying to lead him to a place without many people."
He shook his head, looking away. "But he sensed something much more magical than me inland and abandoned me for his new prey."
"Hogwarts," Ginevra concluded. The castle and surrounding land was suffused with astronomical amounts of magical energy, built up from ancient times and the countless magic users that had dwelt in the area over the ages. Marcus was there, as was her grandson, Liam – a seventh year and a second year respectively.
Tomas nodded slowly, his face grim.
Part of her had heard enough and didn't want to hear anymore, but she had to know. She had to know what had happened to Marcus.
"I was barely able to keep up with him," he admitted, looking even more troubled. "And..." his voice failed him again.
Ginevra was suddenly aware that he was trying not to cry and, instantly, that growing feeling of dread intensified. On instinct she had already risen from her chair and moved to embrace her son. "What happened, Tomas?" she asked, softly. A new, even more chilling terror filled her heart as it suddenly dawned on her with the force of a cataclysm that something might have happened to her grandson.
"He smashed into the entrance hall," he managed, shakily. "I just barely slipped by and..." he paused again, and took a deep breath. "It was dinner, everyone was inside – I could hear them – and Liam was standing there, like a statue before the doors to the Great Hall."
She squeezed him closer, pressing his head to her heart as she had done when he was a baby. She couldn't make a sound, so terrified to hear the words that would crush her heart. Not her grandson... please, god...
"And there was Marcus, throwing my son behind him and back into the Great Hall," Tomas said quietly. "He just looked that monster in the eyes and drew his wand. He was so brave, mum... Merlin, he was so stupid! He could have gotten himself killed! That idiot is lucky to be alive!"
Ginevra silently let out the breath she hadn't realized she was holding.
"The zoanthrope attacked him and Marcus dodged like a real pro, mum," Tomas smiled sadly, drawing away. "He gave me the time to cast Var Heid with Professor Snape and paralyze him. Thank Merlin that she's as rabid as her father when it comes to protecting the students!"
Yes, thank Merlin for that, Ginevra thought wryly. That girl, mysterious product of Snape's research and the reason behind his Order of Merlin, had definitely inherited his temper, if the stories she heard from Hogwarts were true. And, if some rumours were to be believed, she had the blood of the gods in her veins – which was, of course, plainly silly to anyone with a proper head on their shoulders. What deity in their right mind would possibly consort with Severus Snape, of all people?
"Schwert des Levantine," Tomas continued, looking away absently. "Dad told me to use it as a last resort. It's dangerous to cast, but it'll drain any malignant magic from its target. I don't know how I did it but... somehow... I managed to cast it successfully. I think I passed out, because I don't remember walking to the Hospital Wing. Liam and Marcus were there. I think Liam was a bit shell-shocked, but he came out with far fewer bruises than me. Marcus, though..."
He was quiet a moment, something which disturbed her greatly.
Somehow, she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that something was wrong. "Tomas, how bad is Marcus hurt?" Ginevra asked.
"His wound will heal and, with time, he'll be able to use his arm normally again," he replied slowly. Tomas lowered his eyes sadly and then, quietly, he added, "But he might never be able to be around magic again. There are signs that he's been infected."
All the blood drained from her face as she sunk to her knees. "Oh god..."
"I'm going to try and talk Headmaster Snape into letting him finish out the year," Tomas said, putting a gentle hand on her shoulder. "His daughter knows how to reverse the transformations before they're out of control and I'm sure there are other ways to prevent the triggering spells from hitting him. He's my little brother... I won't let him suffer."
Ginevra burst into tears and hugged her son tightly, burying her sobs in his shoulder.
"I'll find a way... Don't worry, mum," Tomas said quietly. "I'll protect him."
Watching over them from afar, a man – once called Harry – smiled.
The information on the spells comes from Gateway to Goddess. It's a great site and I highly recommend it. The link is listed in my DDLLF yahoo group, blackmooncircle. Book 6 will NOT affect this story or the rest of the DDLLF saga. And thanks again to everyone who has reviewed this story.
